Full-time Business Analyst, Strategy and Planning

Algonquin College•Ottawa, ON

2d•CA$44 - CA$50•Hybrid

About The Position

The Business Analyst's role is to lead the analysis and validation of the business needs of stakeholders, including identifying, communicating with, and managing relationships with internal stakeholders. This includes capturing and articulating the current-state practices and working with stakeholders to determine future-state objectives. The incumbent must gather, prioritize, assess and gain approval of planning inputs and the related processes from stakeholders. The incumbent must develop templates and establish the methodology for planning alignment to ensure that planning elements are linked to deliverables. This process includes interviewing stakeholders, facilitating workshops, gathering and compiling planning information to inform decision-making, and recommending options. The Business Analyst will apply proven communication, analytical, and problem-solving skills to help support the implementation of new processes, and to ensure that intended outcomes are achieved according to specifications. The Business Analyst is expected to understand the planning context sufficiently to participate in reviews and evaluations in order to assess their ability to meet institutional needs. The accuracy of information documented by the Business Analyst and included in planning activities directly supports to the effective visualization and monitoring of the College’s shared implementation roadmap. The incumbent will support the implementation of planning initiatives by developing supporting documentation and materials, and monitoring outcomes following implementation.

Requirements

Four (4) year degree or equivalent in Business Administration, Computer Science, Finance, Information Systems, Data Analytics, Business Intelligence, Information management, or a related field.
Minimum five (5) years related work experience including business analysis, planning and monitoring, stakeholder collaboration, planning information lifecycle management, strategy analysis, data analysis, reporting, documentation, training, and outcome evaluation.
Experience using planning, business intelligence, or reporting tools to organize, analyze, and present information is required.

Responsibilities

Facilitate small to large planning and information-gathering workshops across academic, administrative, and student areas of the College.
Document current-state and future-state practices for College portfolios.
Conduct interviews to gather planning inputs and information via workshops, questionnaires, surveys, site visits, workflow storyboards, use cases, scenarios and other methods.
Work with stakeholders and relevant internal partners to determine the relative importance of collected planning inputs for inclusion in planning and reporting activities.
Analyze and verify planning information for completeness, consistency, comprehensibility, feasibility, and conformity to standards.
Develop and utilize standard templates to accurately and concisely write planning documentation.
Participate in reviews and evaluations to assess how planning approaches align with institutional needs and expectations.
Synthesize planning information from multiple sources to identify themes, gaps, and interdependencies across College portfolios to support integrated planning and decision-making.
Develop and maintain planning outputs, including structured summaries, reporting materials, and visual representations to support senior leadership decision-making.
Utilize business intelligence and reporting tools to organize, analyze, and present planning information in a clear and accessible format.
Support the development of data-informed insights by consolidating quantitative and qualitative inputs gathered through planning activities.
Research and establish methodology for documenting the relationship between planning elements and related outputs.
Identify and document the lineage of each planning element, including any derivation, its allocation, and its relationship to other planning elements throughout the life of the planning cycle.
Provide support to review and validation activities by establishing acceptance criteria for planning outcomes based on articulated and documented planning information.
Establish the ability to articulate and represent planning artifacts in various ways and at various levels of detail.
Establish measurements to ensure outputs satisfy the intended definition of documented planning outcomes.
Provide oversight and guidance to more junior internal collaborators in maintain planning documentation.
Integrate planning alignment methodology across planning, reporting, and workflow tools utilized for College-wide integrated planning.
Responsible for the design and maintenance of planning data infrastructure, including the structure, organization, and integrity of planning information within established tools and platforms.
Establish and maintain practices related to planning data accuracy, consistency, version control, and change documentation across planning artifacts.
Configure and maintain planning alignment and tracking tools to support the traceability of planning elements across the lifecycle of planning initiatives.
Support the integration of planning information across reporting tools and systems to enable consistent tracking and visibility of planning outcomes.
Assist in conducting research on tools and systems to support agreed-upon integrated planning needs and analytical activities.
Participate in internal reviews and evaluations and represent institutional interests in discussions related to integrated planning and reporting capabilities.
Establish clear alignment between planning inputs, performance measures, and reported outcomes.
Participate in the review of implemented integrated planning and reporting approaches to ensure they adhere to agreed definitions and meet stated objectives.
Lead the selection of any integrated planning documentation tools that the Strategy and Planning team may opt to use.
Utilize business intelligence and reporting platforms to develop dashboards, visualizations, and reporting outputs that support integrated planning and institutional decision-making.
Analyze and interpret planning data to identify trends, patterns, and areas of concern to inform planning discussions and recommendations.
Support the consolidation of planning and performance information to enable consistent reporting across institutional planning activities.
Keep current with industry best practices related to integrated planning, reporting approaches, and tools used across the post-secondary sector.
Document current-state planning approaches and work with planning stakeholders to articulate future-state approaches and objectives.
Understand College portfolios sufficiently to be able to represent their needs in reviews and evaluations.
Set expectations with internal stakeholders and re-evaluate on an ongoing basis, to ensure they have a reasonable expectation of planning outcomes as it relates to their area of responsibility.
Maintain communication with internal stakeholders to ensure they remain cognizant of planning information, revised business processes, and ongoing issues. This includes ongoing and scheduled reporting via documentation, meetings and workshops.
Communicate changes, enhancements and modifications of planning information – verbally or through written documentation – to relevant internal stakeholders so that issues and solutions are understood.
Work with internal stakeholders to manage changes to planning information and ensure they understand planning impacts within their functional area.
Support stakeholders in interpreting planning information, including explaining implications, dependencies, cadence and timelines of planning cycles.
Facilitate alignment discussions across stakeholder groups by identifying common priorities and resolving inconsistencies in planning inputs.
Provide guidance to stakeholders on the use of planning tools, templates, and reporting outputs to support consistent participation in planning activities.
Other related duties as assigned.